#and also have integrated that into fo4

[illuminatedmoth]

starfield still blows btw

i made this post and tags at 3 am yesterday and apparently drafted it instead of posting. woe my out of context thoughts be upon ye. go forth into my archive with new context after

[vault81]

Just thinking about it, but it's kinda weird how your dead spouse is kinda just glossed over when it comes to the fo4 romances, besides Preston (iirc)

like my partner just died like 4 days ago but let me just romance this guy I just met, as far as I know, Preston is the only companion to actually address this in his romance. Like its just a weird writing choice to me, not to mention that the spouse gets like 2.5 seconds of screentime and gets only a few mentions during the main quest.

[gardening--tools]

me while playing fo4 because i’m an opinionated bitch and i disagree with bethesda’s character design

anyway. presenting,

a detailed look at every companion’s appearance, according to me.

(these are all headcanons. they might not be yours, but they are mine. i wrote this as a fic-writing reference, but i don't mind sharing so long as we're all nice about it. also, spoilers ahead for companion quests, both in vanilla game and dlcs. you've been warned okay love you have fun. sorry in advance that you can clearly tell who my favorite character is.)

cw: heights represented by the united states customary system. sorry metric users :/

Ada. Modified RobCo Assaultron. 2074 model. SN has been sanded off and replaced with "ADA", painted carefully (lovingly) in blue script. It's clear that it has been reapplied multiple times, as many times as necessary. Post-Mechanist quest, she requests to have the names of her fallen friends painted on her body as well.

Cait. Pre-addiction recovery, scrawny-strong. Blood, muscle, bone and not much else. Very short. Like, south-side of 5'3". Has a very rectangular body shape. Hard angles. Was bright strawberry blonde when she was a kid, but it got darker as she got older. Hazel eyes. Freckles year-round and all over. She doesn't burn super easily, but she doesn't really tan either. Just freckles. Nose is crooked from being broken too many times. Post-addiction recovery she is a beef. cake. With Sole's help and resources she gains plenty of weight post recovery. Other than the normal weight gain that comes after recovering from addiction, she finds she enjoys exercise—especially weight lifting—and that it helps her manage her cravings. Her biceps are unfair. If I can be honest, I really only shared this so I can start proselytizing for my Fat Cait Agenda.

Codsworth. Standard GAI Mister Handy. 2076 Model. SN: 01HND-7619-0163. This is only visible because the 2076 Handys had their SN's embossed. All other markings that were printed or painted on have eroded away. A cute fact about Codsworth is that, despite his 200 years of wear and tear, he doesn't have a single dent on his exterior panels. Not. A. Dent. Scratches, yes. Scuffs, sure. No dents. He takes his structural integrity very seriously, thank you. He will brag about this if you let him.

Curie. Pre-companion quest, Modified GAI Miss Nanny. 2072 Model. SN has been scratched off and replaced with what is probably "CURIE", but the combination of chicken scratch writing and 200 year old marker makes it illegible. Post-personal quest, Generic Female Synth Body. Average body weight, brown hair, brown eyes. (I know she technically has "Hazel Blue" eyes but I disagree. It's my post and I get to make the rules here.) Her only deviation from "average" is her height. Generic Synth Height is 5'10", for both male and female synths. Takes time to look neat—neatly trimmed nails, trimmed hair, etc—and enjoys it.

Danse. M7-97 was a vanity design* so Danse looks a little different from the Generic Synth design. Still has the brown hair, brown eyes, but is a touch shorter than the standard. 5'8". Latino or Hispanic. His hair is insanely thick, but his beard always grows in a little patchy and with the odd blond patch just below his right ear. (This was not an intentional part of his “design.” Genetics, even synthesized genetics, get funky sometimes.) Carries weight like a strongman weightlifter. Thicker than average, even for the Brotherhood, so he's always had to have his flight suits and PA specially altered. (Thicker than average in regards to BODY TYPE you sickos– This is not that kind of post lmao.)

(This post from slocumjoe is a huge influence for my headcanon for Danse! Thank you for going through your archive to find it!)

Deacon. The Average Guy Ever™. Average height, average build. I'm firmly in the "Deacon is a Good Spy, actually" camp, so. Uncanny ability to adjust how he looks just by altering his posture. His weight has always easily fluctuated, so he can go from stick thin to bulked up in a matter of weeks. No matter how many surgeries he gets, he cannot hide the freckles. They always come back. He would have had piano hands if he hadn't been a chronic brawler in his youth. Knuckles are very crooked now. Eyes so blue they're nearly grey. Ginger. Has long eyelashes that are frankly illegal for someone who covers his eyes all the time.

Dogmeat. Dog. He has six toes on his back left foot.

Gage. 5'11". In an alternate universe, would tell people he was 5'9" just to fuck with them. Was a towheaded kid whose hair darkened significantly as he grew up. If he spends a lot of time out in the sun, though, it will turn a sandy blonde/light brown. He keeps his hair short because otherwise it gets very curly and floppy and it really kills his "bad-guy raider" vibe. Would be one of those white boys who tans super well but also thinks wearing sunscreen is for the weak. Scarred to shit. Holds onto muscle for a really long time. Underbite. Slutty little waist because I think that's funny.

Hancock. John Prime was already pretty wiry to begin with, and becoming a ghoul has only emphasized this. 5'7" but seems shorter because he's always leaning on something. Draping, even. He's like if a man was also a liquid, somehow. His remaining hair is incredibly thin, but is the most vibrant golden blonde anyone has ever seen. Eyes are dark due to discoloration, but sometimes—if he's taken in a ton of rads—the edges of his irises will glow subtly. Several piercings on his ears, but he used to have more. Lost them on account of his nose falling off. (You know how it is.) Replaced them with an astonishing collection of rings. Cheekbones that could slice a brahmin. Missing his fourth toe on his right foot.

MacCready. Definition of scrunkly. Not a lick of fat anywhere to be found. 5'5". Has a Gunner tattoo on the left side of his forehead and he hates it. It's why he wears his hat so low. Had an ear pierced once, but it got ripped out ages ago. His left earlobe is split now. He very clearly needed braces growing up but obviously didn't have access to that. Bottom teeth are crooked. His cuticles are picked to shit. Sandy brown hair. Cuts his own hair, but only cares about the hair around his face. Line of sight. Sniper. You get it. Is generally too lazy/uninterested in the rest, and will neglect it until it gets too long, so. Mullet (hot).

Nick. See, the problem with my synth grandpa is that this is the only character whose design Bethesda completely and utterly nailed. Like yeah, he does look like that. You got it. You did it. Perfect, no notes. Like all other Generic Synths, he's 5'10".

Old Longfellow. Exactly what you would expect an Old Hermit-Mariner Driven To Eldritch Madness By The Fog and The Sea would look like. The wildest eyebrows anybody has ever seen. Like you could take a comb through those bad boys. His hair is past his shoulders and fades into his beard. Stark white hair due to the stress of living alone on an island and from What He's Seen. You cannot convince me that there are not some Lovecraftian nasties living in the sea. They Know Longfellow, but Longfellow Knows Them. 6' until he stands up straight and then he's like. 6'5". Liver spots across his face and hands. Looks like he has cataracts in both eyes, but somehow can see better than you.

Piper. By far the companion whose Bethesda!verse appearance I disregard the most. In my heart she is a South Asian woman. On the taller side, between 5'8" and 5'9". Super thick, dark brown hair that in fact does just Look Like That (unfair). Her hair grows from fairly far down on her neck. Deep brown eyes. Spends lots of time on her makeup, even when she's out in the 'wealth chasing leads. Prefers red lips and dark liner close to her lid-lines. Her cupid's bow is super pronounced and she does her makeup to highlight it. On the softer side in regards to physique. Has a burn scar on her right forearm from a cooking mishap back when she was still trying to figure out how to live on her own and take care of Nat at the same time. Bites her nails.

Preston. Personification of someone telling you that everything is going to be all right. Tall, 6'. Pretty standard physique for someone who grew up on a farm and then became a soldier in a wasteland militia. Very square hands. Lets his hair grow out a little bit because he (forgets about it) likes it. Brown eyes that look like honey when the sun hits them. Other than the two scars on his face—one running down his left cheek, the other a small nick on his top lip—he has a scar from a bullet wound on his right shoulder. Has a stick and poke tattoo of the Minuteman coat of arms on his left arm, just where his shoulder meets his bicep. Top lip is bigger than his bottom lip. Dimples when he smiles. Huge smile, smiles with his whole mouth. Legs like an adonis. Someone get this man into some 4' inseam shorts, STAT.

Strong. Super mutant. He was a Butcher, so he's a little beefier than your average mutant. Of course, this is only known to other mutants, as the subtleties of mutant physiology tend to be lost on non-mutated humans.

X6-88. Generic Courser Build. While Generic Synths are designed to blend in with the everyman, Generic Coursers are designed to inspire fear in every man. (booo bad joke tomato tomato) 6'3" but stands so perfectly straight that he seems taller. Has the superhero build, but like naturally. Keeps his hair in a short fade. Bottom lip is lighter than the top lip. Has little lines around his mouth from all his frowning. Has one (1) singular scar on his chin. He won't tell you where he got it (it's from him eating it on concrete steps. That was the one mission he asked for an extension on, so the evidence of him beefing it would heal.) Also chronically wears sunglasses. Behind those aviators are grey eyes that are so pale and sharp, they almost look white.

[jinglyjangly]

Major spoilers

So shady sands got nuked by a random vault dweller because his wife took their kids, and he wanted his kids, and he was mad his wife found a settlement when vault tec was supposed to be the ones settling the surface…he was mad the ncr “did vault Tec’s job before they could” so he blew…the fucking ncr’s main settlement up

I wonder if it’s like “oh yeah he was a protag of his own mind pretty much” kind of jab but even then it leaves a bad taste in my mouth? Because it is insane video game writing and it’s definitely insane bethesda video game writing, but it fucks up a very integral part of two major games

And I hate how much like…yeah the BoS is back to being technocratic and more cult like in the show but it’s also still praised kind of? And the random, and I mean RANDOM, nonbinary BoS member that’s there for like, 20 minutes was just…a waste. A nonbinary person that really does nothing but just be there and hurt themselves to forward the narrative of the cis het protag. Honestly they’re there to piss of the conservative gamers but I’m not conservative and I’m pissed shady sands and the ncr got did dirty like that so in the end every fallout fan is mad

Like…the ncr went from a huge mega power that is basically a country, to being blown up by a dude? And they don’t mention the hoover dam and how maybe they were weakened from the legion/ncr conflict…which would’ve made it believable. Nada. They just say it this guy blew up shady sands so I guess it happened. It’s canon.

They just made the ncr seem so small after fnv made it feel so big and menacing in its own way with hundreds of named npcs with stories and it was so gooooood and they made it feel like a shitty dinky settlement comparable to fucking…like…diamond city

Idk it’s like 5am and the final episode just pissed me off. They should’ve just set it in New York or Florida and made up new factions instead of establishing canon endings to the most favored game in the series. Or they could’ve done a prequel to fo4 if they wanted it to tie in the games so bad.

The ghoul also has the best scenes and story but I’m…idk the drugs suppressing the “feral�� disease is also a weird thing. It’s new to the tv series and what only in la? What’s it made of that no one else makes? And why the fuck did he have to eat someone. I liked the scene because it was kinda just neat to watch in a way… but it’s like “oh he’s a ghoul so he eats people whoOoOo” They never really…explain…if he like…needs meat or something and idk. I dunno. And cold fusion? Like what. Wha…uh. I fucking hate the idea of power being harnessed from tiny object. It’s just a lame McGuffin they can pass around. I would rather it be like…they’re fighting over a wind farm to harness power and they need like a scientist/engineer to fix it. Something that feels big and really.

Anyway, I’m fine with watching it until I think about it, and then I don’t like the plot. So it feels like fo4 all over again but I’m more mad because I feel like it ruined fnv’s ending. Which sucks. So personally I do not see the show as canon but as like, fan fiction to like…maybe a independent/house/legion ending for fnv when the ncr is super week and some guy just bombs it…because he’s mad at his wife.

Big ooof, a 8/10 until episode 8 and then it’s a fat 2/10…one star for goggins making another badass ghoul in the series and one for the dog

[artbyblastweave]

okay but i do support ur thoughts about fo4 bc i ALSO thought the institute is way too Extra considering they’re going up against primarily some small families and their homesteads, and i rly wish the cpg was more developed than basically a throwaway line- i think the intention was to show that the institute is the reason the commonwealth can’t develop a central power but idk of all the political scenes in the games it feels the weakest

The CPG is one of a couple of ways in which I think Bethesda was writing with an awareness of the popularity of New Vegas- with an awareness that if you're going to set a game contemporaneously with the NCR, but on the other coast, and if you aren't going to go all in on the region in question being actually literally unlivable, then you're going to have to come up with some kind of mechanism by which nothing like the NCR has come to exist, or your audience will call bullshit.

The problem is that the question of why there isn't an NCR isn't actually what the Fallout 4 devs wanted to write a story about, it's just something they had to clear out of the way to support the setting they wanted. Therefore the explanation is perfunctory and not terribly well-integrated with the world. What settlements existed at the time that were big enough to send people to form the CPG? Where was the meeting held? What's their Hoover Dam or their Project Purity, their hot-button resource or point of contention that prevented the settlements from unifying? What was the inside baseball at the Institute that led to their involvement, and what were they hoping to get from the proceedings that the infighting prevented them from getting? Really, what has the ebb-and-flow of local politics looked like for the past 200 years? The CPG's destruction answers the question of "why no east coast NCR," but that's literally all it's doing, and yeah, it's a real missed opportunity!

[oldworldwidgets]

i think im gonna start integrating a lil more posting about other fallouts/more fo4 outside of deacon along with my usual stuff :3 i feel like i care too much about making this blog Exclusively Deacon and its making it less fun to be around so!!! anyway!!

i hope yall also like the other fallouts + oc content because OH BOY do i have some little guys running around in here

[zhnnveuxpasdrmir]

I really should have gone to sleep, but, I regret to inform you, the Fallout show is really fucking good. Ironic as hell to have it on the Vault Tec channel.

There are callouts and references from New Vegas and the Commonwealth. There's not exactly easter eggs, they're the bedrock of the plot. Fallout logic applies. Every conceit that has to explain why the nonsense of Fallout exists is an integral part of the story flow in the show. Better done than in FO4, tbh!

Familiarity with the games will for sure give you lots of background information on who's who and what they're doing. That was cool I thought. I couldn't help but wonder if any of the artists got any kind of remuneration at all for having their work copied down to the millimeter. They said that Bethesda was "in the room" on art direction and stuff but I don't know what that means, really. I stopped thinking of any of those companies as anything but little Vault Tecs themselves years ago.

On reddit people's complaints are all highly logical - fucking triflers. This is Fallout. "Why didn't they XYZ? How did the dwellers know about ABC?" if it made a whole bunch of sense it wouldn't be a Todd Howard story. But yeah visually thematically and textually it is Fallout, to a T. I'm actually annoyed at how fucking entertained I was. Todd Howard will be insufferable forever after this, and assume all his ideas are good. Psh.

random spoilery theories and observations:

That first ep was frustrating in that my Vault dwellers would've eaten those bullshit raiders up in seconds. Scars? Tattoos???? oh no no. Instant chunks. My vault is no-nonsense. If any of them had made it past that first security checkpoint, it would've just been to get gaussed into several pieces by Ethel or mowed down by Big Dave's minigun. Anyway.

I also kept wishing someone would scrap. Not fight: pick stuff up. It just kept occurring to me because everything was so exactly game-perfect in appearance. That's 2 Steel and an Adhesive, Lucy! cmon grab it for your backpack! Get that machete!!! free machete! 1 Copper in every bulb on that crate, move it into a safe container! until nobody turns red in your reticle! Get with it!

When Lucy talks Maximus into their alliance and they do the warrior's handshake, the Battle Hymn of the Republic played loud in the score out of nowhere, never to return in season 1. Is Max going to found the Minutemen? I don't really know the timeline well enough to know how that fits together - but it sure was emphatic.

The Ghoul is a crit banker! Ha! Lucy seems to have Chem Resistant, Maximus is climbing the Power Armor tree… nice. LOVED how other-Dogmeat used the right tactics on the Gulper, they have that same weakness in Far Harbor, sensitive lil arms, tag'em for instant stagger.

I was glad they held back on directly showing Deathclaws yet, but set up the promise of them for the future, giving exposition for those who didn't bother to read terminal entries on their playthroughs.

I was thinking that the Vault 31 mystery was going to reveal synths, but it went more to the plot lines that you find in the environmental storytelling - Vault Tec's nefarious technocratic scheme that you piece together from terminal entries on side quests. Interesting. Is the Enclave a BOS thing? I never played a fash character & I can't take orders so I don't know that quest tree too well.

I loved that all the armor pieces were game standards, made it super easy to figure out who was who in battle scenes. I would definitely be a Leather Right Shoulder guy. Some like the Sack Hood with Hoses / Metal Chest Piece thing; I get that. It works. Personally I would not go with the red eye shadow because everyone would assume I was a cannibal but you do you.

New Vegas is up next! There's no way this doesn't get its three seasons at least.

[cutecowboy]

It's so weird why Nick Valentine wasn't a romance option in FO4

He is integral to Nate/Nora's journey. He knows what pre-war life is like, while also having learnt the ways of the wasteland. You help him figure out what happened to his own fiance. You are both outcasts trying to make a spot for yourself in an unfamiliar situation.

What I'm saying is that story wise you should be able to lick his batteries.

[lordsammichsilas]

I’ve actually been thinking about this and piecing together context clues from what Danse says he remembers, what we learn from the Railroad, and what is found on the holotape that you get for Proctor Ingram if you take the BoS route, M7-97 was an escaped synth who had his memory wiped and was relocated to the Capital Wasteland.

That pipeline seems common for a lot of synths rescued by the Railroad.

I read on a wiki that in Danse’s bio that in FO Shelter Online that his memories from Rivet City are fabricated by the institute. I don’t really buy that piece of lore, though, because it disregards any lore from FO4 and honestly doesn’t make sense.

Personally I think Rivet City was his entry point for his new life. It’s where he meets Cutler. I think everything he said about Cutler was true and his memories to that point are legit. The BoS is pretty good at record keeping and it would be easy to verify whether Knight Cutler existed and if they joined at the same time.

He was promoted to Paladin under Owyn Lyons’s tenure as Elder. That I pieced together because, once again, the Brotherhood would have record of that. Danse also mentions being promoted Paladin and assigned his own crew, but he wasn’t there when the Brotherhood took Adams Air Force Base. That’s when Krieg was killed.

Mostly I think those two are real because Danae’s memories of both of them are specific. Everything before that is where it gets murky. All he can say is he “grew up as an orphan picking scrap in the Capital Wasteland”. None of that is information you can really corroborate. I think that’s on purpose. If you get too specific, it becomes easier to poke holes in your story.

This means the Railroad is the one who gave Danse those memories. When Danse blows up in his last affinity speech after Blind Betrayal, the thing he focuses that anger on is the fact that the Institute couldn’t even be bothered to give him happy memories. He’s an orphan who doesn’t have memories of siblings or parents.

I think that was a deliberate choice the Railroad made for his own sake. No one’s going to go digging too deep into the history of an orphan digging through scrap. They probably gave him those childhood memories to help give him anonymity. Who’s going to take the time to grill a person on being an anonymous orphan?

Danse is angry at this fact, which is COMPLETELY understandable (and it’s a little heartbreaking that that’s the detail that he latches onto when he finally talks about it). But his anger is directed at the wrong people. And the Railroad didn’t do it out of cruelty. They did it for his safety. Much to their chagrin, they did a little too good of a job.

This means M7-97 escaped the institute, had his memory wiped and was relocated into the Capital Wateland where he integrated as a totally normal human dude and JOINED THE BROTHERHOOD OF STEEL.

He’s been a Paladin for at least a decade when the game starts. It probably took him a while to work up to that rank so surely he’s been in the Brotherhood for longer than that. No one was any the wiser. And circumstances came together that landed him out in the Commonwealth where a member of his team (Haylen) picks up readings that clue them, and by consequence the BoS, into the Institute prompting the BoS to launch a full-scale invasion of the Commonwealth to take out said Institute which ends up revealing his true identity and puts him at risk of being executed.

Imagine you’re Deacon and you handled M7-97’s case. It was a long time ago. You assume it’s all settled and done. Then Recon Team Gladius does their thing and Deacon recognizes M7-97 as Danse and is like 🫥. Everyone in the railroad is like ‘he did what’.

Talk about a series of unintended consequences!

i keep thinking about how danse exactly became a synth and ended up in the brotherhood, like he was deemed a missing synth so the institute didn’t place him there to be a spy, but he did get the memories of living in the wasteland so like?

how i’m imagining it is he was in a similar situation to H2-22 where he got help from the railroad after escaping the institute and got his memories wiped when he was younger (before cuttler)

sad/funny part of this idea is that Deacon knew about M7-97 and actually helped with his case, a synth who was inspired to help the world the railroad did.

And then years later deacon meets with the same synth, introduced by the newest railroad member with “hey this is danse my buddy from the brotherhood. who yknow hates ghouls and synths”. Deacon is in a constant battle in his head not to reveal that Danse is a synth because of the irony but doesn’t want to for the sake of Danse’s self identity and safety.

Danse uses him as target practice when he finds out Deacon knew post blind betrayal. Deacon lowkey feels guilt over it

“I can’t believe i’m a synth, everything i’ve known was a lie, what do i do now? ”

“oh thank god the cats out of the bag”

“what.”

[illuminatedmoth]

starfield still blows btw

[ir0n-angel]

Fic Author Self Rec

Tagged by @crackinglamb. Thanks, love. *bonk* 😘

Tagging @madangel19 @steamcaptain @st0nergh0ul @fiadhaisteach (chapters count too) @lilbittymonster @ranaspkillnarieth and anyone else who’d like to play. No pressure!

When you get this, reply with your favourite five fics that you’ve written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love.

Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to put pen to paper since pre-pandemic 2019. Too many forks, not enough spoons in addition to other irl problems. Still, I’m pretty proud of my own works.

In no particular order:

Spring Fever (Fallout 4, F!SoSu/Edward Deegan, rated E, 5008 words) Part 3 in a currently 8-part series, and probably the most rambunctiously smutty of the entire set despite all of them being rated E. I fell down this rarepair rabbit hole by accident because I was physically incapable of moving around much during one of the worst heatwaves the Bay Area had seen to date; 115-119 degree daily temps. It grew into me becoming over 33% of the pairing, and I still have the most fics of it in the archive. Why is it my favorite? Emotional slow burn, and this was where my two knuckleheads were starting to realize that their FWB was becoming something More(tm). Plus, it was just plain fun to write.

A Way with Machines (Fallout 4, F!SoSu/Nick Valentine, rated E, 3983 words) The first smut I’d ever written and, of course, it had to be with the synth. I wanted to write a story that was as realistic as one could possibly get romancing a robot. To date, it’s my most popular fic written. Side note: It’s also the first of a currently 3-part series, though all can be read as stand-alones. Why is it my favorite? I have a type and Nick hits the wickets. In addition to the realism, I also made a very clear and pointed effort to include consent for male partners, which I feel like doesn’t get enough ‘screen-time��� in... well, any medium.

Thank You, Monsieur DuPont (Fallout 4, F!SoSu/Nick Valentine, rated E, 2602 words) Second in the 3-part Valentine series. I almost put my FO3 Gob/Lone Wanderer fic here, but decided I like TYMP better. So I tried to get into the Kinktober challenge, but -- throwing some salt here -- realized that a lot of people really don’t know the difference between kink and abuse. So while TYMP has kink (real kink), it’s no longer categorized or tagged for the -tober. Why is it my favorite? Aforementioned love of Nick. I had a blast writing probably the most straight-laced character in FO4 as being a sweetly kinky fella. It happens to be my bestie’s favorite, too, which gives me all kinds of good fuzzy feelings.

Time Cures All and Adjustment Period (Fallout 4, F!SoSu/Vault-Tec Representative, rated E, 3295 and 2679 words respectively) Cheating a little bit here, because these two really should be read together. Another rarepair I’m the majority writer for. Why is it my favorite? The VTR, who I renamed Charlie, was one of the most interesting side character stories for me. I’m super proud of how I managed to seamlessly integrate it into my own writing. And it’s equal parts fluff and hot smut.

Be Near Me (Fallout 4, F!SoSu/Hancock, rated E, 15612 words) I feel like I should warn folks by admitting that I’m not really a romanced-Hancock fan. To me, he is the ultimate best friend character. That being said... Why is it my favorite? First, but least: It was a personal challenge that I passed with such flying colors, even I’m impressed. And I never impress myself. I set out to write a fic with as many “and then they fucked” tropes as possible, but never have them actually sleep together until the very end. By my count, there’s 77 different tropes in this relatively short fic. Second, and most important: This is the fic that brought me and my best friend together. Now, 5+ years later, we’re found-family. And I’ll always donate to the AO3 fundraiser when I can because it changed my life.

Honorable Mention:  

Chapter 4 of Her Lonely Road, Walked Alone (Fallout 4, F!SoSu & Hancock, F!SoSu/MacCready, rated M, 7973 words) Oh boy, where to start with this one? HLRWA is part 2 of a 2-part series that must be read in order to understand. I have to point that out because I’ve had so many people read the second part and complain in the comments that they didn’t understand what was happening. Yeah, I’m still a little salty over it. It’s clearly marked! It’s right in the summary! Y’all! Anyway... Why is it my favorite? Given the chance, I think I would rewrite the whole series -- it was my return to writing fic after 11 year writer’s block -- but I would keep this chapter. One of my favorite characterizations of Hancock I’ve ever written. Best Friend Hancock forever!

[gophergal]

The Stupid Miniscule Issue I Have With Fallout 4

Welcome to a PROPER Gopher Ramble. Been a while since we had one. Strap in, folks

I've honestly seen so many people talk about their own grievances with fo4, whether they love the game or hate it. Is it old hat? Yes, yes it is. However, I dont really care. I really don't get into a fandom until the source material is super fucking old anyway. Anyway, I've seen some people complain about the settlement system (which is admittedly poorly integrated, but I'm a sucker for resource management and village building games) and the lackluster way companions are handled, but those aren't actually a big problem to me. What is then? The goddamn canon player backstory.

Honestly, the entire inciting incident is uninteresting to me, I really don't care for fo4's "Find your son" plot. However, the more manageable problem comes from the Sole Survivor's background and how it changes based on which gender you choose.

Not to sound like a whiny bitch, but why is Nora/Female Sole Survivor a lawyer? What does that bring to the game? It doesnt give you any special abilities, so why bring it up? Why isnt she a veteran like Nate/Male Sole Survivor?

You can't just say "There are no female soldiers in pre-war Fallout!" or because yes, they actually did. And we have that canon to fallout 4 though environmental storytelling and terminal entries.

Gladys, one of the residents of the retirement home run by Mr. Handys(apparently it's called Sandy Coves Convalescent Home) was a combat veteran. Her room has TONS of military paraphernalia including grenades, for some reason. She was an OLD gal, which means that, before the war, female soldiers weren't a new thing!

But why does it matter? Why am I so up in arms about this itsy bitsy detail? BECAUSE BETHESDA MADE THE GAME WITH A MILITARY BACKGROUND IN MIND

For context, let me explain how power armor worked in fallout 1 through fallout new vegas.

Before fallout 4, power armor was something you had to be trained to wear. Not just to fight in, to actually wear. This primarily came from becoming a member of the Brotherhood Of Steel and getting your training there, but pre-war would have come through army training.

Which explains why Nate can use the power armor found on the roof of the museum of freedom. Sure, the raiders can also use it, but I can excuse that as something they learn from each other (I'm ignoring the settlers using it. DEAR GOD I'M IGNORING THEM USING POWER ARMOR AS A BETHESDA-ISM). Either way, a Sole Survivor not trained to use power armor really shouldnt be able to. Yet either gender can.

Nate makes sense. He was a combat veteran who was trained to use it pre-war. Nora was lawyer, and probably shouldn't be able to use a gun larger than the 10mm if we're being honest.

So why didn't they make her a veteran too? It would have helped to cover their bullshit plothole when it comes to power armor use!

And don't get me wrong, I really like how power armor works in fallout 4. Having it use a non-renewable power source makes it precious. Being able to customize it RULES. But being able to use it Fresh Out Of Vault makes it feel less special, like a sort of toy. ESPECIALLY when your character shouldnt logically be able to pilot it.

Of course, there may be the argument that it changes the story too much from the original because it would change Nate and Nora's relationship. Not really. Legit all that would need to be changed is the opening flavor text where they talk about their accomplishments. It could have been a "met in the army" thing. It could have been a "met before, enlisted separately" thing. Either way, it still works. Besides, the gender or your Sole Survivor makes no other differences in this game anyway (aside from the Black Widow/Lady Killer perk. I miss my gay counterparts to this though U_U) so the choice of making Nora a lawyer baffles me.

Like, I know that having a female player character option is a fucking afterthought in most games, but this honestly feels a little stupid lmao

[redphienix]

for some reason it allowed me to select all my unlisted videos, but it would constantly do half of them and then say it finished?

So I had to do it like 10 times. These were the final 2.

Minor downer to find out listing videos that were previously de-listed updates their release date to today, so they don't accurately show their recording dates anymore, but almost every video on this account exists for a post on my game blog, so there's a round-about accurate date somewhere.

also some of them have subtitle data from years and years ago, so there's that. I don't know, I just think it'd be preferable for these to show the date they were uploaded and not the date they were listed.

got amusing things like this FO4 video saying it's from 15 minutes ago, but it's also integrated into a post from 2015

I didn't even consider the risk of this breaking things in old posts, thankfully it appears it worked fine.

Spur of the moment decision to just let the random bullshit recordings be visible is now done.

Yeah fuck it

[theggning]

I'd you've discussed it before, I missed it. So no pressure if you don't want to rehash, but ... Can I get your general thoughts on Elder Maxson? Your opinion of him/headcanons you might have?

He's such a complex character imo, and lately he's been living rent free in my head.

Yeah, absolutely! I’ve previously given him a lot of shit and I make fun of him often (we all know What He Did) but he is actually a really complex and fascinating character. 

I actually feel really sorry for Arthur Maxson. The poor kid never had a chance to be well-adjusted or have a normal life. Arthur is the last living descendant of the man who founded the Brotherhood of Steel, and he comes along at a time when the Brotherhood is heavily struggling for relevance. In the west, they’re strictly and dogmatically isolationist, and you end up with groups like the Mojave chapter fading into obscurity in a bunker. In the east, you’ve got Owyn Lyons, who makes a stand for what he believes in (altruism), gets his entire chapter disowned, and loses half of his soldiers because they disagree (the Outcasts from FO3.) 

Meanwhile, Arthur carries the blood and the name of the one person EVERYONE in the Brotherhood believes in. When we meet him in FO3, Squire Arthur Maxson is a smart, shy, gentle 10-year-old boy who’s been sent eastward away from his parents both to protect him and to “make him stronger” (his parents die while he’s away.) He had no friends his own age and no friends at all, actually (except for Liberty Prime-- a journal entry mentions a scribe chasing Arthur out of the lab and scolding him for trying to befriend a machine.) He hero-worships Sentinel Sarah Lyons, but he’s too young and clumsy to follow her out into the field. Everybody treats him like a small soldier or a messiah, no matter how he tries to downplay his lineage and claim to be a normal boy. This literal child spends his entire life being told he’s special and mighty with a “soul forged from eternal steel.”

The pressure and the expectations eventually start to push him into embracing his “destiny.” By 12, he’s improved his combat skills enough to kill two raiders on patrol. By 13, he single-handedly kills a deathclaw (and earns his face scar.) By 15 he’s taking out important super mutant leaders. And by 16, he’s so hardcore that the West Coast BoS gets back in touch with the East and names Arthur Elder. At the age normal teenage boys are socializing with peers or having friends or letting their brains finish developing, Arthur Maxson is the goddamn supreme commander of a military force. And the East Coast BoS actually thrives under him, becoming more powerful and relevant than they’ve ever been. And this is how we go from the shy, quiet squire to the charismatic, highly-beloved (MOTHERFUCKING 20-YEARS-OLD) Elder Arthur Maxson in FO4. 

I wouldn’t say that FO4!Arthur buys into his own hype. Despite how he’s been treated his whole life, he doesn’t believe that he is a god or a messiah. But he does believe literally every single word of the BoS codex. He does believe that they are saving humanity and doing what’s best for the future. He has been living as the legend people expected of him for years now, and is determined to continue down that path. 

I think in his own twisted way, Arthur actually does care about the people of the Commonwealth, as he claims to. But it’s in the same way that a king cares about his subjects. He knows what’s best for them and doesn’t really care to seek their input before doing what he likes. Though he genuinely does believe the Institute is evil and he genuinely wants to protect the world from their menace, he also comes to the Commonwealth because he wants to lead his own glorious war of liberation, the way Owyn Lyons did in the Capital. 

Also, for all people claim the BoS were “ruined” by Arthur in FO4, keep in mind that  

A. Lyons’ BoS and their charity and altruism were actually outliers- most of the BoS are a bunch of isolationist asswipes (see: the entire West Coast branch) B. The BoS hating non-human races is the norm, not the exception C. Arthur has actually fairly smoothly integrated BoS traditions with Lyons’ more fair and altruistic beliefs (which he grew up with.) He clearly maintains a lot of respect for the Lyons family (even if the current BoS party line is to denigrate them in favor of praising Arthur.) 

Here are some things that Arthur has commanded of his BoS that make them the kinder, gentler version of the faction, and also just some general nice things he’s done as Elder: 

Civilians are ordered to be treated fairly. BoS soldiers are not permitted to harm them (except in self defense) and any and all tech they possess is to be traded for fairly with food and medicine. If they refuse to trade, they are left alone. 

BoS soldiers are to defend civilians and initiate proactive strikes on super mutants, feral ghouls, Institute synths, and other threats. BoS vertibird crews are to protect caravans from above. 

BoS soldiers are to be monitored for mental health concerns as well as physical. Arthur explicitly orders Cade to treat all mental conditions the same way he would treat an injury. 

He shows deep personal concern for his staff and crew. This is notable in the terminal entries re: Ingram, where Arthur is apologetic for denying her field duty-- and when she disobeys him and goes to Mass Fusion anyway, all he does for punishment is to write her a sternly worded letter. 

Arthur Maxson is a cold, brutal, unflinching military dictator with a god complex. He is a lonely, frightened child carrying the weight of the world and desperately trying to prove himself. He’s a compassionate, charismatic leader. He’s a terrifying enemy. He’s an idealistic liberator who wants to protect humanity. He’s a dogmatic bigot who thinks evolving his views is showing weakness. He’s all of these at the same time. He could only get the wide and varied fandom reception he does by having this many facets of his personality, and by being one of the most complicated characters in the game. 

And okay, I’ll say it: his beard and his jacket are pretty sexy. 

[teamhawkeye]

2,4,6,8,16,18 for Kate

2.) Did you design them with any other characters/OCs from their universe in mind?

- Really only her father, James, since he’s integral to the Lone Wanderer’s story and development. I wanted her looks to be unique, but i tried to also base them off of James, since more than one character says how much James and the LW look alike and you can tell they’re related. I also made it that most of Kate’s specials and talents come from James and watching him her whole life: Science, Medicine, and Repair skills being high, taking to a Rifle after being given the BB Gun at 10, a penchant for helping others and being giving and noble, etc.

4.) In developing their backstory, what elements of the world they live in played the most influential parts?

- Fallout 3 really has most of the LW’s backstory set in stone, so there wasn’t too, too much to freestyle with. The biggest thing for me was the adjustment of being told you born in a Vault your whole life and growing up in there and then being forced to return to a world you never knew you were even from and how to handle the ruins of DC in a way a kind soul new to the surface could actual survive. (And as an aside, i’ve actually spent a fair amount of time around that area of DC, NoVa, and Maryland growing up, so there are locations in-game i’m fairly attached to and write specific scenes happening there, haha)

6.) Is there any significance behind their eye color?

- Not really. I just usually have my placeholder OC have blonde hair and blue eyes until i come up with their actual name, story, and looks, and the blue eyes and blonde hair just stuck with Kate

8.) What (if anything) do you relate to within their character/story?

- I’ll do anything for my loved ones, much like she will. I’d like to think i’m at least a fraction as selfless and noble as she is, but i know i’m nowhere near that level, lmao. As for the story, I suppose a bit of the childhood bullying; i experienced a bit when i was in middle school that wasn’t particularly stellar, but unlike her, i only had to deal with it for a year or two at most, that didn’t follow me into high school.

16.) What is something about your OC  can make you cry?

- Oh goodness: the whole scene with James sacrificing himself in the Purifier can absolutely make me cry when i read over what i wrote of her reaction to it. It was the single most devastating event of her life. The events of Point Overlook are really devastating too, where you get a glimpse inside LW’s mind and see how much self-loathing and agony they have over everything that happened throughout the course of FO3 - i could absolutely see that applying to Kate in-canon and it definitely hurts my heart.

18.) What is the most recent thing you’ve discovered about your OC?

- She’s a lot more cynical in FO4 and beyond than i intended her being. Sure, she’s still going out of her way to help as many people as she can - usually without being asked - but she’s still wary and embittered from some of the bad people who’ve crossed her during the course of her travels. Kate’s gonna offer assistance every chance she gets, but she’s also gonna have at least one hand on a gun.

[callsignbaphomet]

OC Personality Type

Tagged by the always lovely @ggh0stly-dr4ws-stuff​! Thank you!

Tagging: @theonedayking​, @thesleepypaladin​, @harcane​, @carthus-flame-arc​, @lordfenric​, @dai-rokuten-maou​, and anyone else who wants to do this. Also if you’re tagged and don’t wanna that’s fine too.

Rules: Go to this website and take the test as one of your OCs! Then, put their stats as follows!

Going with Fallout (specifically FO4) J. He’s my go to, sue me lol

[Look, I don’t have any FO4 screencaps of him anymore. Just go with this and let’s all pretend this is in Boston]

Name: Jelani Haakonson

Your personality type is: Logistician ISTJ-t

Mind This trait determines how we interact with our environment. 11% Extraverted | 89% Introverted

Energy This trait shows where we direct our mental energy. 23% Intuitive | 77% Observant

Nature This trait determines how we make decisions and cope with emotions. 76% Thinking | 24% Feeling

Tactics This trait reflects our approach to work, planning and decision-making. 89% Judging | 11% Prospecting

Identity This trait underpins all others, showing how confident we are in our abilities and decisions. 43% Assertive | 57% Turbulent

Logistician Strengths:

Honest and Direct – Integrity is the heart of the Logistician personality type. Emotional manipulation, mind games and reassuring lies all run counter to Logisticians’ preference for managing the reality of the situations they encounter with plain and simple honesty.

Strong-willed and Dutiful – Logisticians embody that integrity in their actions too, working hard and staying focused on their goals. Patient and determined, people with the Logistician personality type meet their obligations, period.

Very Responsible – Logisticians’ word is a promise, and a promise means everything. Logisticians would rather run themselves into the ground with extra days and lost sleep than fail to deliver the results they said they would. Loyalty is a strong sentiment for Logistician personalities, and they fulfill their duties to the people and organizations they’ve committed themselves to.

Calm and Practical – None of their promises would mean much if Logisticians lost their tempers and broke down at every sign of hardship – they keep their feet on the ground and make clear, rational decisions. Peoples’ preferences are a factor to consider in this process, and Logisticians work to make the best use of individual qualities, but these decisions are made with effectiveness in mind more so than empathy. The same applies to criticisms, for others and themselves.

Create and Enforce Order – The primary goal of any Logistician is to be effective in what they’ve chosen to do, and they believe that this is accomplished best when everyone involved knows exactly what is going on and why. Unclear guidelines and people who break established rules undermine this effort, and are rarely tolerated by Logisticians. Structure and rules foster dependability; chaos creates unforeseen setbacks and missed deadlines.

Jacks-of-all-trades – Much like Analyst personality types, Logisticians are proud repositories of knowledge, though the emphasis is more on facts and statistics than concepts and underlying principles. This allows Logisticians to apply themselves to a variety of situations, picking up and applying new data and grasping the details of challenging situations as a matter of course.

Logistician Weaknesses:

Stubborn – The facts are the facts, and Logisticians tend to resist any new idea that isn’t supported by them. This factual decision-making process also makes it difficult for people with the Logistician personality type to accept that they were wrong about something – but anyone can miss a detail, even them.

Insensitive – While not intentionally harsh, Logisticians often hurt more sensitive types’ feelings by the simple mantra that honesty is the best policy. Logistician personalities may take emotions into consideration, but really only so far as to determine the most effective way to say what needs to be said.

Always by the Book – Logisticians believe that things work best with clearly defined rules, but this makes them reluctant to bend those rules or try new things, even when the downside is minimal. Truly unstructured environments leave Logisticians all but paralyzed.

Judgmental – Opinions are opinions and facts are facts, and Logisticians are unlikely to respect people who disagree with those facts, or especially those who remain willfully ignorant of them.

Often Unreasonably Blame Themselves – All this can combine to make Logisticians believe they are the only ones who can see projects through reliably. As they load themselves with extra work and responsibilities, turning away good intentions and helpful ideas, Logisticians sooner or later hit a tipping point where they simply can’t deliver. Since they’ve heaped the responsibility on themselves, Logisticians then believe the responsibility for failure is theirs alone to bear.